During baseball season, flashing red means the Boston Red Sox game has been called off on account of weather.

In October of 2004, the beacon flashed red and blue to commemorate the Boston Red Sox World Series victory. This was the first time the color scheme changed since the beacon was lit in 1950. A new line was added to the poem accordingly:

Flashing Blue and Red, when The Curse of the Bambino is dead!

The beacon again flashed red and blue when the Red Sox won the 2007 World Series.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

If Tuesday was Day 12, then today, Sunday, is Day 17. SEVENTEEN!!! Hello, immune system, where are you!? I'm convinced that what I've had all this time has been at least 2 colds, the first being bearable and the second and more current being the pain in the butt! I've tried every type of medication that I have. I went out and bought Mucinex, hoping that it would ease some of the discomfort--it has. If I don't feel better by tomorrow, I'll need to make a doctor's appointment. I've also noticed that I rarely get any vitamin C and most likely lack in a lot of other vitamins as well, so I probably need a daily multivitamin as well. I've never taken any--Does anyone have any recommendations? Vitamins seem to be one of those things where there are far too many choices!My blood sugars have been normal. The highs are results of misbolusing or some other explainable circumstance. I've only had one low, I think. So, whatever the sickness is, it's not affecting my blood sugars...or my appetite!

I have maintained, so far, my 5lb weight loss. All I can hope to do right now is not gain more.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Today is day 12 of sickness. A week ago today I didn't think I was sick anymore, but every other day, sickness has been verified with symptoms. At first is was just the onset of a cold. By day 6, I was nauseous and was sure I was going to vomit. Day 7 brought back the cold and away went the nausea. Today, day 12, ushered in the sore throat.

I think what has happened these past 12 days, is that I've gotten a little bit of everyone else's sicknesses. My body refuses to commit to just one illness!

I've taken sudafed, dayquil, nyquil, advil, and a sinus/allergy med, throughout. Trying different meds at different stages. Tonights med of choice: Sugar-free robittusin with codeine.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

It's De-lurking Week! Celebrate it by leaving me a comment if you've never left one before. I know that you stop by, but I want to know who you are, why you're here, and if you have a blog of your own!

(On topic with the whole weight loss thing--Why is bacon so bad for you? I could eat a pound of it!)

Monday, January 08, 2007

I feel as though I've been extremely busy lately! So, as this blog is about me, I'm going to tell you about me. :)

I did join the OC New Me Challenge. From here on out referred to as OCNMC. I was unsure before, but I decided to suck it up and stop assuming that I would fail. I'm a highly competitive person (I'm sure I've mentioned this before), so a little challenge shouldn't hurt me. My goal: 25 pounds. I bet $30 I could do it. I'm excited to see a final list of participants and know who's with me.

The truth is that I had started this all about 2 weeks before Christmas. I wasn't proactive about losing the weight, but I gave up soda (gasp!). Previous to this decision, I'm not sure a day went by without me sipping a diet pepsi or diet coke. In the morning, on my way to work, I would stop at Dunkin Donuts at least once a week and purchase a 20 oz diet pepsi. Throughout the day, I would grab a soda from the community 12-pack. I had gotten down to one a day previously. This was cool. There was no real motivation behind it. But, then I decided:

No AM sodaNo PM sodaSoda is only acceptable at or around noontime.And if I do have a soda, I am limited to one a day.

If you had laid these rules in front of me even just 2 months ago, I would have laughed. I've admitted that I don't even think it tastes good, but I drink it because it has no sugar, it provides caffeine, and I'm not paying for water. Flash forward to mid-December--I'm over it. The soda thing was really easy for me. I think this is because I wanted to do this. I'm sure glad I did. I'll be better off for it. As a matter of fact, I think it's significantly contributed to my losing some weight already!

Dropping soda has lead me to drink lots more water and diet snapple. Drinking more water means I pee more often (not my favorite side effect). Drinking more snapple has increased my random trivia knowledge (Did you know that if you lined all the street lights up in NYC, they would reach to Japan?!).

I feel healthier.

I signed up for calorieking.com's diet software thing. I don't consider that I'm on a diet, but I really wanted something to track calories, so I could be more conscious of what I am eating. I signed up the week before Christmas and then I took the week between Christmas and New Year's off, but I've been logging consistently since the 2nd. My appetite has decreased significantly since then as well. I think I embarassed myself with what I was eating and how much, if that's possible.

I feel healthier.

This morning I weighed myself. The number I saw was 10 lbs lighter than my highest weight during the weeks before Christmas. It also indicates 7lbs lost since the start of the year and the OCNMC. I attribute this to both the lack of soda in my body (I haven't had one in days) and the consciousness of calorie intake. I still need to work on calories out. I play wallyball for 2 hours each week, but I'd like to see myself walking more, so it's not just one day of intense exercise and 6 of laziness.

I feel healthier.

Less food means....

Less insulin. I mentioned a number recently that I was not so proud of. 131 The units of insulin I took in one day. It's 11pm on Monday night right now... here are my most recent daily totals including today's:Mon: 56.65Sun: 57.80Sat: 59.30Fri: 76.60 (this is what a low day used to look like just a few days ago)Thurs: 58.40Wed: 88.20and then they get worse or similar.

I went four FULL days without changing my pump site (It didn't bother me and I had the insulin). FOUR DAYS. wow! And I threw out about 20-25 units.

Did I mention, I feel healthier?

I don't like to get my hopes up or get too excited ahead of time, but I'm making some progress and I'm excited about it!

I started this meager little blog and became an anonymous voice and gained the anonymous support of our community.

I spent 5 days in North Carolina preparing Christmas Gifts to be sent to children around the world. Relationships were built and lives were definitely changed. It was a vacation well spent.

The list could go on and include other personal accomplishments not related to diabetes.

Things I wouldn't exactly deem worth to "write home about" and what I plan to do about them!

Weight. I've gained weight. I just typed how much and then I erased it. I'm wrestling with the whole idea of the OC challenge. I don't know that I've ever lost weight outside of my diagnosis at age 5 of course. Not very reassuring. I'm beginning to take steps towards this goal. I'm ok with slow and steady. I'm not ok with moving backwards at this point. There needs to be forward progress. Thanks Allison for the OC New Me Challenge!

All other disappointments are not worth mentioning.

I guess it's full steam ahead on the losing weight and getting healthy goal! That's about as concrete as you're going to get out of me. If I choose to participate in the OC New Me Challenge (I'm leaning in that direction), I may set a goal of 20 pounds. I don't even know if this is reasonable for a year? I'd be curious to know what other people are setting for the OCNMC weight goal. What is reasonable?

(Oh, perhaps I should also resolve to be more timely with these types of posts (only 3 days late) and post a little more frequently. I feel as though I have things to say, just not the time to say them!)

Here's to 2007. It's going to be a great year for the OC. Let's do it!